Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring Roofers in Lancaster, PA

When you need roof repairs or a roof replacement, odds are you're under stress. No one wants to pay for roof repairs, and replacing a roof can be an expensive project that disrupts your daily life.

It's unfortunately common to hire the first inexperienced roofing company that gives you a quote because you didn't know how to find reputable roofers. So we put together a guide to help you avoid hiring the wrong roofing company. Here are the mistakes to avoid when hiring roofers.

How to Avoid Mistakes When Hiring Roofers

To find out if a roofing company has the experience and dedication to customer service

to do a good job on your roof, follow these best practices:

• Hire accredited companies
• Hire local
• Don't go for the cheapest option
• Ask for warranties

Let's go into detail about how to implement these techniques and what mistakes to avoid when hiring roofers.

Hire Accredited Roofing Companies

This is one of the easiest ways to avoid getting taken advantage of on your roofing projects. Before you hire a roofing company, check to see if the company has the proper accreditations for the services it offers. 

It is especially important to know your roofing company is qualified to build new roofs in your area. Every county in the U.S. has specific rules governing construction and home improvements. If you're interviewing roofing companies and they can't tell you what those guidelines are and how they plan to work with them in mind, odds are their quality of work will be subpar and perhaps even illegal. 

Check Portfolios, References, and Reputation

Check roofing companies against their portfolios, references, and reputation. This may seem like a no-brainer or a slightly redundant process, but paying attention to all three elements is important to ensure you hire a high-quality roofing company that backs up claims with good work.

Here is why each element is key to verifying whether a roofing company is reputable or not. 

• Portfolio: Looking through a roofing company's portfolio is the best way to verify if the company has enough experience to handle the roofing projects you want to hire that company to do for you.

• References: This is the best way to evaluate a roofing company's character. Talk to real customers to learn what kind of people work for the company you are interviewing. This is another good reason to hire locals — verifying nonlocal companies is more difficult and less reliable.

• Reputation: This is a good way to evaluate a roofing company's character if you can't find the company's references or the company doesn't provide enough references for your comfort. Some companies are not above creating fictional reviews on their websites or providing phony references, so read through reviews and compare them to the testimonials or references on the company's site. If a company has a poor online reputation, odds are something is off. 

Don't Go for the Cheapest Option

One of the biggest mistakes to avoid when hiring roofers is to go for the cheapest option. It's tempting to pinch pennies anywhere the opportunity presents itself, but roof installation and repair is not the place to do so. The cheapest roofing companies often don't have the equipment, roofing materials, or experience to give you the high-quality roofing services you deserve. 

Hire Local

Hiring local companies not only helps the Lancaster economy, but it also gives you an added layer of assurance that the services you're paying for are well-vetted. If your neighbors put their faith in a local company, the company is most likely reputable and competent.

Ask for Warranties

This is a great way to weed out bad roofing companies. If a roofing company can't offer you a warranty or guarantee for its work, the company might be hiding something.  Many roofing systems come with manufacturer warranties, and most professional roofers will back their work with some kind of guarantee or warranty. If a company can't offer one or both of these kinds of consumer protection, avoid that company.

Hiring a Reputable Roofer in Lancaster, PA

For high-quality roofing services in Lancaster, PA, call Sunnyside Roofing at (717) 825-7751 or schedule a roof assessment online. We can help you learn the mistakes to avoid when hiring roofers.